Category Archives: Hunting Industry

Post navigation

First, if you look at hunting like a sport, you are selling yourself and hunting short.

Brian Short with a Public Land DIY Mid-80s Archery Pronghorn.

the Reality…

Local DIY hunters are some of the most successful hunters I know. It’s a small percentage of hunters, but they are not your average hunter. They don’t have more time than anyone else, but they do VALUE hunting more than most.

Guides do help hunters find record book animals.

I had my house built by a contractor, because I didn’t have the knowledge or time to worry about gaining the knowledge to build it. Essentially, hunters who hire guides are buying the guides time and knowledge, no different than any other profession. A hunter who has the means and is willing to pay for a quality guide, will probably be more successful on record book type animals.

Private Land hunts cost thousands of dollars because of supply and demand.

Supply and Demand

Private land hunt prices are dictated by the demand for a higher quality hunt experience. If you look at the draw odds for ANY of the best draw hunts you can visually see they also have a supply and demand issue. We as a hunting community desire HIGHER quality experiences and chances to kill record book animals; the numbers don’t lie.

Premium Hunt Price Structures Coming Soon…

Western states will see ever growing PREMIUM hunt pricing structures in the near future. Families will be forced to choose between premium hunt prices and general hunt prices. It’s simply a supply and demand issue. Again, the numbers don’t lie.

Hunting is going to continue to go through huge challenges. We can’t make more habitat and access is going to continue to shrink around public and private land mixed use areas. This will eventually lead to public land offices implementing permit structures for individuals as access issues will drive the masses to large chunks of public land.

Costs are going to go up for everyone, but the term, “Hunting is a Rich Man’s Sport” is BS. When people who make 50-80K more a year than me use this phrase, it really makes me question how much they value hunting.

FYI-I made a whopping 18K last year, so if it’s a Rich Man’s Sport, I am SOL.